February 3, 2009: Sao Paulo and Florianopolis

I've never had to run for a flight but I did in Brazil. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm there at least 3 hours in advance-for a damn domestic flight. We thought a domestic flight from Sao Paulo to Floripa wouldn't be that bad so we got to the airport at around 12:45 for a 3:30 p.m. flight. The TAM line was packed. All flights for TAM, domestic and international, were standing in one line. It was a nightmare. We finally got up to the check-in counter at 2:55 and had just enough time to run to the gate and get on the bus to the plane. The flight to Floripa was short and I was talking to two college students going home from Sao Paulo. They told me about the beaches and the clubs and were very excited showing me their city from the window of the plane. :-)

We landed and took a cab to the Mercure. Big improvement from the Ibis. We had two aparthotels with kitchenettes and seperate bedrooms. David stayed with Danya and Ed and I shared a room. Floripa, the capital of Santa Catarina province, is a cute island city at the southern tip of Brazil, by the Argentine border. We stayed in the Centro which was close to all the clubs. The city looks like San Francisco with a bit more L.A. thrown in. We decided to rent a car the next day to go to the beaches. The first night was spent in Centro and we had a great dinner at the Pier 54 restaurant, under the Hercilio Luz bridge.
The food was great. We had Mocqueca (a fish stew)and Bacalao (grilled Cod), which was yummy. Of course, David got the best Malbec I've had- Latitude. We found that when we ordered Malbecs (from Argentina), the waiters would try to steer us towards Brazilian wines but we stood firm and had Malbecs throughout the trip. Supposedly Argentina and Brazil don't see eye to eye and the rivalry effects everything from futbol to wine. I guess it has something to do with trying to be the most powerful country in South America. The Brazilians can't stand the Argentines and the feeling is mutual. When I was in Buenos Aires, I found out that the derogatory slang for a gay man is brasilero. Go figure.
We spent a quiet evening drinking Caipirinhas in an outdoor bar straight out of the 1950s. A breezy evening, tons of limey cachaca and good friends. :-)